First Things First
by SpaceTart
Summary: What did Sakura do that day? SPOILERS!


Title: First Things First  
Author: spacetart  
Rating: PG for one semi-bad word.  
Disclaimer: Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto, and is owned in part by Shueisha, Bandai, etc... It's not mine.   
Summary: What did Sakura do the day Itachi attacked Naruto?  
Notes: SPOILERS! Seriously, there's a lot here.   
// = Inner Sakura...  
  
Sakura woke up and went about her usual morning routine, waved goodbye to her mother, and started off toward Kakashi's house. It had been a while since she had trained with the team, and though she knew Naruto was out of town, she figured she and Sasuke could train today.   
  
//Yes! I'll be able to master the chidori today and Sasuke will be so impressed!//  
  
She knew something was wrong the moment she arrived at Kakashi's apartment building. There was a guard stationed outside the complex, and Mr. Yamanaka was standing watch on Kakashi's floor. He nodded to her as she walked by.   
  
"Eh...Kakashi?" She knocked on the door, which swung open quietly, revealing several of the upper-level ninjas. Asuma, Kurenai, Lee's teacher.. They were all sitting around the bed, where Kakashi was...  
  
Her eyes widened. "Kakashi!" She ran to the side of the bed, dropping her pack on the floor. "Are you all right?"   
  
"Sakura," Kurenai said, putting a restraining hand on her shoulder.   
"He's all right. He just needs to sleep it off."   
  
"Oh." Her eyes flickered back to Kakashi's prone body. "Does Sasuke know about this?"   
  
"Er, yeah." Lee's teacher grinned. "He took off a little while ago, looking for..." He stopped speaking and Sakura saw the teachers exchange looks. "Anyway, I was just about to go after him."   
  
//I'm not being told something. I HATE being left out of the loop!//  
  
"I want to go with you!" she said. "If Sasuke is in trouble, I want to help him!."   
  
Again, the teachers exchanged looks. "It'd be better if you stayed here, Sakura," Asuma said firmly. "Let Gai take care of it."   
  
"I know, Sakura." Gai winked at her. "Why don't you go visit our Lee? He'd appreciate that. He'll be at the hospital this afternoon for physical therapy."   
  
Even though she wanted to scream that she wasn't five, she nodded.   
"All right. I'll come back tomorrow."   
  
Mr. Yamanaka stopped her as she walked back out into the street.   
"Sakura, why don't you go visit Ino if you don't have anything else to do. She's working by herself today."   
  
***  
  
Ino looked up as she walked into the flower shop. She looked bored, and Sakura noticed that there was a magazine in front of her. "Sakura? What are you doing here?"   
  
"Your dad said I should visit you because you were working by yourself."  
  
"Oh." She swung up onto the counter and rested her chin in her hands, letting her feet beat against the front of the counter. "It's been pretty slow today, though. Only a few customers in the morning."   
  
"Well, I'll buy something then." She smiled at Ino. This was nice, they were talking like back when the were friends, before Sasuke.   
  
"For Sasuke?" Ino gave her a knowing grin, but Sakura only shook her head.   
  
"No, for Lee. His teacher said I should go see him."   
  
"Oh, your funny-looking boyfriend."   
  
Sakura ground her teeth together. "He's not my boyfriend."   
  
"Don't worry, I'll take care of Sasuke's broken heart for you."   
  
"Ino!"   
  
"Maybe he should be your boyfriend. Then we wouldn't have to compete over Sasuke." Ino twirled a figure in the air, looking mock-sad.  
  
"You just want Sasuke for yourself, Ino-pig!"   
  
The blonde stuck her tongue out at Sakura and hopped down from the counter. "Hey, Sakura, come look at this dress." She held up the magazine, pointing to a picture.  
  
A few hours later, with a bouquet of carnations(which, she had informed Ino, were flowers that sent a message of "You're very nice and I want to see you get better, even if you do have funny looking eyebrows.") she headed towards the hospital.   
  
"If you want to train with my team tonight, we'll be out by the monument hills!" Ino shouted from the door as she left. Sakura turned and waved, then headed toward the hospital.   
  
She could hear Lee before she saw him. He was yelling at someone, probably a doctor or nurse, who was telling him to stop whatever he was doing. She shook her head. Lee certainly had a streak of stubbornness running through him.   
  
She wanted to be a good ninja too, of course, but she didn't have the same drive for it. There were other, more important things: her studies, her family, her love for Sasuke. She had a place in the village still-she figured she'd become a teacher or work for the intelligence agency. Something like that. She didn't think about it much.   
  
When she rounded the corner, there he was, yelling at an anxious looking nurse who was standing near him, wringing her hands.   
  
"Lee," the nurse said, "we're finished. Please, don't overtax yourself."  
  
He scowled at her, but sat up from where he had been doing situps. His bandages were off and she could see the scabs and scars on his arm and leg. They were pretty gruesome, and she winced as she remembered them being crushed.   
  
She must have made some sympathetic noise, for he looked up at saw her there, holding her bouquet. His whole face brightened and he smiled at her. "Sakura!" He wiped his face off on his sleeve and walked over to her, favoring his uninjured leg. She could hear his brace scraping the ground as he walked.   
  
"Hi." She thrust the bouquet out in front of her, suddenly shy. "Gai-sensei said I should come visit you." His face fell, but he shook it off and took the bouquet from her, tucking it awkwardly under his arm.   
  
"I was just about to leave. Do you want to come with me?" She nodded and they started walking toward the town square, Lee rewrapping his arm as they walked.   
  
"You don't have your crutches anymore, huh?"   
  
"Nope!" He smiled proudly at her. "They took them away this week. But I still have the brace. I won't need it for much longer though."   
  
"That's great." They had reached a bench and she plopped down on it, swinging her feet. He joined her. "Your parents must be pretty happy about it."  
  
"Oh, they're dead."   
  
Her hands flew to her mouth and inwardly, she cursed herself. "I'm sorry."   
  
"No, it's okay. They died when I was really little, so I don't remember them. Gai takes care of me now."   
  
Which explained the close relationship between them. "That's good." There was an awkward silence and Sakura looked down at their feet. "Lee, can I...can I look at your brace?"   
  
"Huh? Oh, sure." He crossed his legs so she could get a better angle. The brace covered the bottom of his foot and a single piece of metal curved up his leg, ending in a buckle at his knee. "Pretty bad, I know."  
  
"No, it's not. It keeps your leg straight, doesn't it? That's all it needs to do."   
  
"That's right." He uncrossed his legs, pushing his suit down over the brace again. "Just wait, though. In a couple of weeks, I'll be walking without it, just like nothing ever happened." He grinned at her.  
  
//But something did happen...//  
  
She only smiled back, though, feeling oddly protective of his optimistic attitude. She hoped nothing ever took it away from him, that he kept smiling, unlike Sasuke. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile, not since they were little. "Are you going to go home now? Your teacher's at Kakashi's apartment, he's not feeling well."   
  
"Gai's sick? What happened?"   
  
She shook her head. "No, Kakashi. Something happened to him. I don't know what."   
  
"Oh." He looked like he was about to say more, but at that moment, Ino rushed up to them, looking distressed. "Sakura!" She skidded to a stop, breathing hard.   
  
"What is it, Ino?"   
  
"Something's happened to Sasuke!" She straightened up, though she was still out of breath. "I don't know what happened exactly, but that teacher with the funny eyebrows walked by the shop carrying him, and then the medics put him on a stretcher. They're taking him to the hospital, they should be coming by any minute now."   
  
Sure enough, a team of medics were rushing into the square, carrying a stretcher. Sakura stood up, craning her neck to see the stretcher's occupant. Her heart sank when she saw Sasuke, unconscious and mumbling.   
  
"Sasuke!" she started toward the medics, but stopped when she realized she'd only get in their way. But she watched them as they left the square.   
  
"Come on!" Ino grabbed her hand. "We'll take a shortcut to the hospital and get there before they do. We can find out what happened."   
  
"All right," she agreed, and was about to take off when she remembered Lee. He was still sitting on the bench, watching her a little forlornly. "Lee..." she said.   
  
"It's okay. Go find out what's wrong." He gave her a thumbs-up.   
  
She nodded and started off after Ino, who had impatiently gone ahead. "I'll see you around!" she called back to him, and he waved at her.   
  
"Hurry up, Sakura!" Ino yelled from up ahead.   
  
Sakura shook her fist at her, and doubled her speed. "I'm coming, Ino-pig! Be quiet!" 


End file.
